Forthcoming

Welcome

I am a historian in American and African American Studies. I hold a doctorate in History and Civilizations from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) (Paris, France). I am Associate Professor at the University of Cergy-Pontoise and an affiliated member of the Center for American Studies at the EHESS (Mondes Américains/CNRS – UMR 8168).

My research focuses on African Americans' relationships to Africa (19thcentury-present time). It addresses black intellectual and cultural history, black nationalisms, the Black Atlantic and African diasporas in the United States. My works deal with African-American history, black intellectual movements (such as panafricanism) and cultural practices shared by African and Afro-descendant populations in North America and in Europe. I use tools from history and anthropology to analyze how links between black populations are tied up in contemporary times.

Educated in France and in the United States, I was trained in English, American and African American studies. In 2009, I completed a dissertation on the intellectual history of African American Afrocentrisms. This work traced the origins of the Afrocentric notion and compared it to the processes of reafricanization among African Americans. A book from this study is to be published.

This transatlantic perspective also leads me to explore other aspects of the historical and cultural ties between Africa, America and Europe such as the arts (music, visual arts).